Sina Tech, 9/04/08

Jack Ma, chairman of e-commerce firm the Alibaba Group, has issued an internal company memo announcing that for the month of August, after 5-years of maintaining a free business model, online e-tailer Taobao has finally managed to break even from advertising revenues.

It was also confirmed today that Alibaba's advertising subsidiary, Alimama, would merge with Taobao. The new company will continue using the Taobao brand, and Taobao president Jonathan Lu will remain as president. Alimama president Eddie Wu will become a senior executive at the new company, although a specific position has not yet been determined.